Today the Croydon Conservatives had a fun day attending Croydon Pridefest 2018! The venue has expanded in size from last year’s event, now held in Wandle Park. This is great news, as that means it will give the annual event room to expand over the years to come.

The Croydon conservatives had a stall, full of brightly coloured decorations, also including some A4 posters in the colours of the LGBT flag, stating some of the positive changes and measures brought in by the Conservative government to help bring true equality in the UK.

Our posters surrounding the stall stated the following:

MODERN AND INCLUSIVE: The Conservatives have more LGBT+ MPs than any other party.

MARRIAGE EQUALITY: As Conservatives we believe in freedom and supporting people who make a commitment to each other.

HARSHER PENALATIES FOR HATE CRIMES: We have ensured people who murder transgender people in hate crimes now face life sentences.

TACKLING HOMOPHOBIA: We have invested £2 million in schools to help tackle homophobia bullying.

PRACTICAL ACTION: The government has launched a pilot for 40,000 men to be vaccinated against HPV.

CORRECTING PAST WRONGS: We havemade it possible for gay men with historic criminal records for consensual gay sex to have these records deleted.

We were very proud to join the march, alongside the thousands of Croydonians who wanted to stand up and highlight the need for LGBT equality within Croydon and beyond. It was very positively received from the many onlookers, waving and taking photos as we passed! The march started outside M&S on North End, and proceeded along the length of the road, turned right down Church Street road, and then back towards Wandle Park.

This is when the party officially began, with a steel drum band welcoming back the people who marched. There was an excellent party atmosphere throughout, together with highlighting the important issue of improving and expanding LGBT+ rights and equality in the UK.

As an LGBT Conservative Councillor in Croydon, I was then given the amazing opportunity to speak to the hundreds of people at Croydon Pridefest, on the main stage. I gave a brief insight to my journey as a Gay man growing up in Croydon, also highlighting my very positive experience being an openly gay man within the Croydon Conservatives.

This is the speech I gave:

“My name is Scott Roche, and I am one of the Croydon Conservative Councillors for the Shirley South Ward.

I have grown up and lived in Croydon all of my life, however growing up as a Gay man in Croydon has not always been easy. I struggled admitting to myself that I was gay, let alone telling my friends and family! It was a hugely daunting task, but I was very fortunate to have the friends and family network to help me through it.

Back when I was 17, when I was still coming to terms with my sexuality, there is no way in a million years, I could imagine myself stood here today, talking to hundreds of people about my sexuality, and proudly so!

It is fantastic events such as Croydon Pridefest, which is making huge strives, reaching out to the many people who are struggling with their sexuality, and helping to turn a negative connotation into a positive one. This event is promoting true equality and diversity in Croydon, and it can empower those people, who are struggling with their sexuality, and it helps proves to them, that being different is ok, and it is nothing to be ashamed about! Each person’s sexuality should be celebrated, and never used as a weapon of hate!

However, not forgetting that this event is an excellent opportunity, to have some fun, and party, there is a serious side to this event, but also a fun side, and we should never forget that.

I am very proud to be stood here today, representing the Croydon Conservatives, as one of their LGBT councillors!

The Croydon Conservatives want to help change and improve Croydon for the better, and we would love for you to come and say hello to us at our stall, we will be there all day, so please do come over and talk to us.

Thank you very much, enjoy the rest of your day!”

It was a huge honour to represent the Croydon conservatives in this manner, and I look forward to next year’s event. If you would like to get involved, and help us at next year’s Croydon Pridefest 2019, please do get in touch:

I have just come back from a very enjoyable evening watching an Aladdin Pantomime, at Wickham Hall, Sussex Road!

Dianna Fraser, who is the chair of the Spring Park Neighbourhood Watch, kindly invited me, together with Shirley North colleague Gareth Streeter, and Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Croydon Central Mario Creatura, for a very fun evening of pantomime!

I never need an excuse to go and watch some panto, and the 'West Wickham Pantomime Society' did not disappoint! They brilliantly showcased some of the amazing local talent, am-dram at its finest! This organisation has been bringing pleasure and laughter to the local community through pantomime for over 70 years, I cannot wait to see what they have installed for us next year!

#WWPanto2020

You still have a chance to go and watch them perform 'Aladdin', at Wickham Hall, but only until the 12th January 2019, you will need to hurry, tickets are selling fast…

They support local charities with the ticket proceeds, which is an excellent way of raising funds for good causes, in addition giving some of the very talented local community an opportunity to shine in the spotlight, and all whilst you’re having a fun evening!

Thanks to the kindness of the 'West Wickham Pantomime Society', half of this evenings ticket proceeds, went to support the brilliant work the team undertake at Spring Park Neighbourhood watch! Over 90 members of our amazing Shirley community came this evening to support Dianna Fraser, and all the hard work she and her team do within the Spring Park Neighbourhood Watch, all whilst having a lovely fun evening!

Once again, thank you Dianna for inviting me to attend this evening, and of course well done to the team at ‘West Wickham Pantomime Society’, for putting on such a good show!

Today I was kindly invited by Alice Henry, Head Gardner for MHA Wilderness, to attend and view the site of the very exciting upcoming 'Reclaim the Wilderness' Project. The beautiful wilderness site is located behind the MHA Hall Grange Residential & Dementia Care Home on Shirley Church Road and was created by Rev Wilks on his retirement.

Through a Heritage Lottery funding grant, MHA have managed to secure 3 years of funding, to enable the group to transform one of our very important heritage green spaces within Shirley. As a National Trust and English Heritage member, I am naturally very excited about this project!

It was brilliant to learn about the ambitious plans for the site, this project will not only transform the lives of the Dementia care patients within the care home, but also give the residents of Shirley and beyond even more reasons to be proud of our wonderful borough, as this heritage wilderness site will be open to the public from Summer 2019!

This heritage site is steeped with history and is of course the location where the iconic 'Shirley Poppy' was created by Reverend William Wilks around 1880. For full details about the project please visit link:

Alice and the team will soon be looking for volunteers, to help transform this beautiful heritage wilderness site, with a tentative date opening to the public in July 2019! I for one will most definitely be putting my name forward to assist however I can, I hope you will be as well!

If you would like to be involved and help with this exciting project, please contact Alice Henry at MHA Wilderness directly:

Please see below the changes to waste collections over the Christmas holidays. These are what the council is saying will happen. I make no guarantee that this is what will actually happen!

Fingers crossed!

~~Changes to litter collections over festive period

Collections of household recycling and waste will be changing for three weeks over the Christmas period.Collections between Tuesday 25 December and Friday 11 January will take place either one or two days later than the usual collection days. Extra waste produced during the change will also be collected.This Christmas it is easier to recycle more than ever before thanks to a new recycling system introduced across the borough.You can recycle card and paper packaging but please remember shiny wrapping paper cannot be recycled.If you have a real Christmas tree you can have it collected for recycling alongside your usual waste collection from Monday 14 January, just remove any decorations and pots or plant holders and leave it by the kerbside.Councillor Stuart Collins, cabinet member for clean, green Croydon, said: “We want to make Croydon the greenest borough in London but we need your help to do it.“New bins have already been introduced across the entire borough to help boost recycling rates to more than 50% over the next two years.“Most households will produce more waste over the festive period so please remember to recycle as much as you can.“If you need to double check your collection day or what you can recycle you can look online.”Usual collection date followed by Revised collection dateMonday 24 December - UnchangedTuesday 25 December - Thursday 27 DecemberWednesday 26 December - Friday 28 DecemberThursday 27 December - Saturday 29 DecemberFriday 28 December - Monday 31 DecemberMonday 31 December - Wednesday 2 JanuaryTuesday 1 January - Thursday 3 JanuaryWednesday 2 January - Friday 4 JanuaryThursday 3 January - Saturday 5 JanuaryFriday 4 January - Monday 7 JanuaryMonday 7 January - Tuesday 8 JanuaryTuesday 8 January - Wednesday 9 JanuaryWednesday 9 January - Thursday 10 JanuaryThursday 10 January - Friday 11 JanuaryFriday 11 January - Saturday 12 January

The Shirley South ward Councillor team are here this morning to hear any concerns and offer our assistance, at the West Wickham Shirley Baptist Church, Wickham Rd, Croydon CR0 8EB, we will be here until 11:00 this morning.

If you need help with anything, but you're unable to attend this morning, please contact us directly by email:

This evening I attended the Residents Association Engagement meeting, which was held by the Planning team in the council, regarding feedback on the SPD2 for Croydon. With such an important topic, it was no surprise that the meeting was attended by such huge numbers, the room was at near capacity, with extra chairs needed to accommodate everyone.

The general feeling within the room, was unfortunately the labour lead council was not listening to Resident association’s real concerns. The council claimed to be in listening mode, but it was very clear from sitting in this meeting, this is most certainly not the case!

There was a Question and Answer session,

Q: Are the Residents of Croydon concerned with the proposed building/planning intensification within our community?

A: Yes they most certainly are!

The Shirley South ward Councillor Team will be keeping a very close eye on the planning applications being proposed within our community. Shirley has been earmarked as one of the intensification zones within the borough, but rest assured we will stand up for the residents of Shirley throughout.

I was invited to attend the 'Friends of Millers Pond' committee meeting this evening.

This is another example of passionate residents standing up for their community, giving up their free time to help protect some of the very precious green and wildlife spaces we have within Shirley.

The team were planning the priorities for the next cleaning morning session, taking place on Saturday 24th November 2018 at 10:00, hopefully I will see some of you there! They hold regular cleaning sessions, usually on the last Saturday of each month.

If you wish to assist the team, or join the Friends of Millers Pond committee, please do let me know, and I will forward you the full list of scheduled dates which are in the diary for 2019, or the details of how to join the committee.

The Shirley South ward Councillor team are here this morning to hear any concerns and offer our assistance, at the Shrublands Advice and Coffee Shop, 7 Broom Road, CR0 8NG, we will be here until 11:00 this morning.

If you need help with anything, but you're unable to attend this morning, please contact us directly by email:

Just finished a walkabout around the Shrublands estate with Cllr Alison Butler, Cabinet Member for Homes and Gateway Services and Beverley Warner, Chair of Shrublands Residents Association.

We looked at flooding issues across the estate, particularly where they relate to the new build sites on Shrublands Avenue. Also a number of places where the sewerage system is backing up and overflowing. I will monitor developments in this area and hopefully we will see some improvements.

We also looked at some issues being experienced by residents with damp in their flats and this has been reported to maintenance to sort out.

Several fly tips have been reported and these are due to be collected.

A number of other maintenance issues were spotted and reported so overall a very worthwhile walk around.

Please do contact us with any issues or concerns you may have. We answer all our constituents' correspondence and value your comments. If you want your concern addressed by your local team, please follow the link above.